


Starbound Heir (On Hiatus)

by TristenCrone



Series: Starbound [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Action & Romance, Adventure & Romance, Angst and Romance, Canon Universe, Devoted Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, F/M, Forbidden Love, Friends to Lovers, Love, Other, POV Ben Solo, POV Finn (Star Wars), POV Rey (Star Wars), Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Pregnancy, Redeemed Ben Solo, Reylo - Freeform, Romance, Soft Ben Solo, Spoilers, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spoilers, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:15:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22914595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TristenCrone/pseuds/TristenCrone
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Poe Dameron & Finn, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey & Ben Solo, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: Starbound [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1613893
Comments: 22
Kudos: 37





	1. Chapter 1

Starbound Heir

Giaca: Disturbance

Finn

Fear and anger coated his tongue, the taste metallic and thick. His mind buzzed with the overload of information that he tried and failed to take in. After weeks of searching, he had found her.

And nothing was what he had expected.

He thought he would find her in a similar situation to how he had first encountered her on Jakku, making do with the trash of discarded pasts and scars of history. Instead, he found a rough-hewn but lovingly constructed home.

Rey looked peaceful and he hated the thought of waking her and blowing up her life, and bringing a true end to the expectations in his mind.

He resented that she had been able to move on, so smoothly, without them. That she slept so soundly, while the war never stopped raging within him.

Something just felt incredibly off about this whole mission, but he wouldn’t have come if he had any other choice.

She had chosen to run from them, to betray them for the memory of a man that had ruined all of their lives. She turned her back on them, her family. He wanted nothing to do with her, and the loss of her was something he felt but tried to ignore, almost daily.

He felt someone else, close by, he had let himself be distracted by her, her dark hair sprawling around her, the soft snores of unbothered sleep enraging him.

A large figure burst through the door, harsh breaths causing a massive chest to heave from exertion. They pulled something through the air and a green blade lit up in his hand, ready to strike.

Finn was horrified, disbelieving. That face. It was him. But how? How was he here? And where did he get a green lightsaber?

He ignited his own saber, the blue blade singing through the air, the soft hum belying how dangerous the weapon was. He recognized Finn, that much was clear when he readied himself to cut Finn down.

Finn took a step closer to the bed, instinctively trying to protect Rey.

“ _Get away from her!_ ” Kylo Ren spat, the sound dragging through his clenched teeth, his face twisted in anger… and fear?

He had never seen fear on that face before. It shook him.

The shout was enough to finally wake her, and the rustling of the covers drew his attention. She sat up confused, taking in the scene around her, alarm in her eyes, and a part of him felt guilty for putting it there.

The alarm turned to pain and he drew his gaze away, not wanting to deal with seeing what turmoil he had caused within her. In doing so he was slapped with the reality of what was going on here.

The small swell of her stomach strained against her shirt, and she instinctively wrapped her hands around it, as if trying to protect it from him.

The rage burst through him like an explosion, the emotions and thoughts a barrage that was too quick to process, too turbulent to still. Jealousy, anger, pain, anger, despair, anger, grief. Anger.

His hands tightened around the hilt of his saber. He knew what he had to do. He would succeed this time.

The electricity of the sabers pierced the soft sounds, their peaceful existence eradicated. The crackle of the fire behind him, and their collective uneven breathing the only other noise in the cabin. Not nearly enough to drown out the din in his mind.

“Please, Don’t,” she begged, her voice thick with tears, the desperation in it felt like picking at a scab. “Finn, please,” she whispered.

“Why shouldn’t I? After everything he’s done?” he spat back at her.

“Because he deserves a chance… he’s changed!” she retorted and Finn scoffed at the ridiculousness of the statement.

“Don’t even bother. Give me the real reason!” he demanded.

Her face seemed to harden, the fog of sleep slowly being replaced by her own ire.

“Because I love him. Because we are a family. And if you lay a finger on him you will have the fight of your life, and you will lose,” she said, steel slipping into the words.

“I can take him, I will not lose to him. Not this time,” Finn promised. He could tell that the Force energy within Kylo Ren was dimmed, he had exerted himself and that made him an easier target.

“I wasn’t talking about him. I was talking about me,” she said, her own saber called to and now clutched in her hand, the other braced on her belly.

The figure in the door made a pained sound, drawing Finn’s attention away from Rey. Again, he was astounded to see the stark fear on his face, not even looking at Finn anymore. His gaze was only on Rey, the saber shaking in his hand.

_What the hell was going on here?_

He took advantage of the distraction, taking another step forward, ready to strike, lifting his blade up in the air, arching down, only to be stopped midway. His whole body inert.

“I said, don’t” the statement was quiet, menacing. She held him there, her power dense and choking.

The green lightsaber turned off, and Kylo Ren sheathed it, taking a step toward Rey. Not trying to attack Finn, despite the fact that he was completely vulnerable.

“Rey… be careful,” he beseeched her, standing over her, his hand outstretched as if he wanted to comfort her, but too scared to touch her.

She ignored him, her energy focused on keeping Finn still. She pulled Finn’s saber from him, flipping off the switch, the hilt falling down onto the bed beside her.

“You do not get to come in here, after sending people to chase me down like a dog, almost killing me. You do not get to intrude upon my life after you turned your back on me. And you definitely do not get to threaten my family and think I will let you get away with it,” she said, the words laced with venom, the contempt in her voice clear, “Am I understood?”

She released him, the degree of separation between his body and mind leaving him shaky while he tried to reorient himself.

“What are you doing here?” he asked Finn, his voice heavy as if burdened by something Finn couldn’t see.

Finn took a few deep breaths, still on edge and fixing for a fight, unable to tamper the adrenaline coursing through him.

His mind was fuzzy, her comment about him turning his back on her hitting him so hard it felt like he was flat on his ass. The question threw him for a moment, pulling him out of his own rumination. The reason for his search burnt through his mind, filling him with new, equally confused and turbulent feelings.

“I came for your help,” he said, the phrase falling from his tongue strangely, given what had just occurred in the room.

“Help with what?” she asked, surprised.

The memories flashed unbidden, loud and cacophonous. His inability to make it there in time. Always feeling like he was a step behind, a nuisance, an afterthought.

“I’ve already tried to do it alone and failed. You were my last resort…,” he said, as reluctant as he had been setting out to do this, he felt even more so now. “It’s Poe. He’s in trouble,” his voice solemn.

He saw their faces harden at his name.

“He was trying to fix everything, and it got to be too much to handle. The bureaucracy of it all. You know how Poe is. Without something to fight for, a lot of the Resistance drifted apart, eager to start their lives, for a future. It left only a few of us to rebuild. And Poe made some enemies,” Finn said, sighing in memory.

“What happened, Finn?” Rey asked.

“We were trying to clean up the mess, going from planet to planet to recruit representatives, trying to gauge the damage done by both the Empire and the First Order. Lawless places, deplorable. Some did not take kindly to our intrusion or our offer of help. Poe went out ‘gambling’ one night, saying he was going to gather information. He never came back. That was two months ago. I haven’t been able to find him,” Finn said, sadly.

“How did you find _me_?” Rey asked.

“We had been trying to catch you since you left, we came close on Chandrila, but you evaded us. Eventually, we heard a rumor that you had been involved in an altercation on Rakata Prime along with a man that Lando was working with. We traced his final location to Batuu, and given the fact that two ships left the sky that night, we believed you had been there as well,” he sighed, shrugging.

“After that it was a bit harder, the trail ran cold. We were unable to track you in the Unknown Regions, though the ship’s signal was picked up briefly, it was too faint to track through hyperspace. Eventually, I used the texts to train myself in the ways of the Force, strengthening my ability, until finally, I was strong enough to use the sextant to lead me here,” he said, pulling the sextant she had used to find the confessional from his pocket. She had left it behind on Maz’s ship.

“I don’t really know what I had expected to find, but it definitely wasn’t _this_ ,” he said, disgust coloring his tone, gesturing toward where they were on the other side of the room. “I’m not sure this was a good idea, given the circumstances,” he finished.

“Finn, please, for me… could you just listen? Just let me explain what happened and then you can decide where you stand and if you still want help,” she asked.

He was reluctant, and could barely stand to be in the same room. But his desperation outweighed anything else he was feeling, and so he gave in.

“Fine, we’ll call a truce, for now,” he said, folding his arms across his chest.

“Have you gotten to the part in the texts where they talk about the Chain Worlds Theorem?” she asked.


	2. Giaca: Uncertainty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Ben deal with Finn's appearance, trying to find some kind of middle ground. They will need to put their differences aside, at least for now, if they have any chance of saving Poe.

Giaca: Uncertainty

Ben

She spoke to Finn for hours, trying her best to assuage his fears and feelings. Ben knew it was pointless, Finn was closed off and honestly, he couldn’t blame him. Kylo Ren had done unspeakable things, had tried to force others to do the same. He had been front and center in the war-machine that tore Finn’s life apart and stole him from his true family.

They were still dealing with the fallout; the whole galaxy was. There was nothing he could do to take it back, no matter how much he wished he could.

Finn tried, bless him, for Rey’s sake. He could see how animated and desperate she was to try and stitch together the fractured parts of what she cared for. Ben hated that she had to make the choice between those parts of her life and heart, hated that it was his fault. He just wanted her to be happy, so badly.

Ben could feel Finn’s presence in the Force, so strong now it was impossible to believe he had gone undetected for so long. It was no wonder he had been able to hold his own for as long as he did on Starkiller Base, during their lightsaber duel.

Rey was tearful by the part where she spoke about being back on Exegol, and he realized how much he didn’t know about her journey to him. He had seen glimpses through the veil, and their force interactions. But nothing compared to hearing Rey recount the hardships she had endured, for his sake.

She had pushed herself to the brink, so many times, she had fought through danger and the threat of death, and worse yet… the darkness, his darkness, driving her to madness.

Her perseverance astounded him, he knew how strong she was, but she never admitted to it. Even if they were evenly matched in the Force, she outdid him in sheer stubbornness any day of the week.

He sat by her side, awed, his body poised to jump into action at the slightest inkling of danger. Ben had been unable to rest since they realized her condition, and it only worsened as it progressed. He waited in fear, for the first indication that their child would be like him, dreading the tiniest thread of malice.

For the first time, Ben empathized with his parents, _knowing_ that he was tainted by an unseen dark Force since before he was born. He had no idea how they coped with that confirmation. He couldn’t even cope with the threat of possibility. He had not voiced this to Rey, but he knew she suspected more than she let on.

Rey skipped over their reunion in the Between, the wonder in her voice when she recalled the feel of his hand in hers after crossing back over.

“We didn’t know what we were going to do, where to go… I remembered that Luke had a compass on Ahch-To that was powered by the Force. So, we set out there, gathered a few rudimentary supplies, and it led us here,” Rey said, gesturing to the room around them.

Finn pursed his lips, looking around, not seeming satisfied.

“We built most of it by hand, it was hard but rewarding,” Rey said, pride in her voice, pride that echoed how he felt.

It had been so long since he had been involved in the building of something, and not the destruction. So long since he did something with his hands besides torture and killing.

“And uh, how…” Finn cleared his throat, “how long…” he carried on, lamely, unable to get the question out, gesturing with a limp flick of his hand toward her stomach.

“It’s hard to tell, we aren’t sure how differently time moves here, but we suspect about five months. A little over halfway,” she finished, her voice soft, her hands cradling her stomach, as if she wanted nothing more than to hold their child in her arms and the wait was proving unbearable.

“I know this is hard to accept, I’m not asking you to be okay with any of it. I made my choice, and you get to make yours. I just ask that you realize that I still care for you, regardless, and that I’ve missed having my friends around. It was very difficult, going back to being that lonely girl again. But, I made my way through it, and now I have a family of my own,” she said, squeezing Ben’s hand, “And I know you will never accept Ben, but please believe me when I say he is trying. Every day he goes out and exhausts himself trying to make things right,” she finished.

He was shocked at her admission, shocked that she knew, at least partially what he was doing, and that she admitted it so freely to Finn.

Finn raised an eyebrow in question, curious, but unwilling to address Ben directly.

“Displaced souls. I search for the life-forces displaced by my actions and try to help them find peace. I also try to make amends, but I know that’s selfish and most do not appreciate it. The ones I’m able to help, they are a little more open to hearing me try to atone for what I’ve done,” Ben said, his voice soft, eyes downcast. He had wanted to keep it hidden from her, not wanting her to know how much of a struggle it was, and how often he failed.

He shrugged, his shoulders cumbersome and heavy suddenly, as if voicing his endeavor aloud gave it more power.

Finn scoffed, disbelieving, but seemed intrigued somehow.

“So, thanks for all of that information. Not sure what to do with it yet. For now, the truce stands, so long as neither of you tries to kill me in my sleep. If you are willing, we depart in the morning. If not, I understand and I will leave you to your corner of obscurity but know that we will constantly be keeping an eye on both of you,” he threatened.

“I cannot promise that this will be a safe journey, nor can I vouch for how people will react to him still being alive,” Finn said.

“No one has to know unless you tell them. Almost no one has seen Ben without the mask in years, the people that knew him before that are mostly all dead or gone. Without knowing his name and how he is connected to the Order… no one will attack him for that unless _you_ tell them. My cooperation is contingent on that,” Rey said, her tone firm.

It seemed to anger Finn, and Ben could see that he still wanted revenge, he just didn’t want to be the one to enact it knowing what it would mean to Rey, and how it would end what remained of friendship between them.

“I will not expose him. I make no such promises for Poe or any of the others that may know or figure out the truth,” Finn said, the reluctance on his face making it look like he was being forced to chew glass.

“Fine, we will be ready in the morning. And we will be taking your ship, I presume?” she asked.

“Yes, I don’t feel comfortable having either of you fly alone, lest you get any ideas,” he said.

“I wasn’t aware that we were your prisoners,” Ben said.

Finn recoiled at the statement and looked over at Ben for the first time, the barely sheathed rage still burning in his eyes.

“You aren’t, uh,” he huffed, “it’s just for safety. No use trying to find someone just to lose someone else on the recovery mission,” He shifted on his feet, eager to get out of there. “I’ll meet you by the ship in the morning. I’m going to bed,” he said, making haste out of their home.

Ben got up to shut the door, watching the rapidly disappearing figure until he entered the ship, only then did the wood click shut under his hand.

“I didn’t know that was what you were trying to do out there,” Rey whispered.

“I didn’t know how hard it was on you, trying to come to terms with my death and then trying to find me. I am so sorry,” Ben said, trying to deflect the conversation away from himself.

“I managed. And so will you. I believe in you, Ben. I am so… proud,” she said.

He fought the urge to lash out, to scoff at her statement.

“You shouldn’t be. Righting a wrong that should never have been committed in the first place is not admirable. I am the bad guy in everybody’s story,” he said, despairing.

“Not in mine, Ben Solo. Not in your family’s. They failed you, and they regretted it every day. You don’t have the monopoly on mistakes. But you do have a good heart and I know you are finally free of the darkness’ pull, it’s up to you to choose the light now. Just keep going, maybe eventually you could learn to be proud of you too,” she said, snuggling under the cover and settling down for the night.

Ben mulled over her statement, joining her on the other side of the bed. She moved to him immediately, her warmth spreading across the bed, the curve of her back pressed against his abdomen.

He wrapped his arm around her, his large hand splaying across her stomach, like all those months ago when he gave his life for hers.

Only now it was filled with more life that he could ever have imagined then.

Her small hand covering his own, her fingers entwining with his.

“Tell me, tell me what is bothering you. I feel it, how tense you are, how tightly wound whenever we are together,” she beseeched.

How? How could he put into words what plagued him, without casting that same doubt within her? He did not want to ruin this for her, to turn her against their child.

She squeezed his hand, reassuring him, encouraging him.

“ _What if the baby is like me_? What if they are tainted by my darkness? What kind of life would the child of _Kylo Ren_ have?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Oh _Ben_ … he would not be the child of _Kylo Ren_. He’s yours. All the light and love within you, the best parts of both of us. We could argue that my lineage is even more dangerous, but we aren’t going to do that. Because our baby will be loved, no matter what. We will care for him and never abandon him,” Rey said, adamant. And he knew she was thinking about her years on Jakku, but all he could focus on was one thing.

“ _He?_ You think it’s a boy?” he asked, struggling to keep the excitement out of his voice. They had never discussed it before.

“I… I think so, with my freckles and your hair,” she said, butterflies dancing within her chest, giddy at the idea of him.

“I want to make him proud. I want to make both of you proud. I want to earn it. I want to be worthy of being a father… and a husband,” he finished, planting a kiss on her temple, body tight in anticipation of her response.

“Is that your way of asking me to marry you, Ben Solo?” she asked.

“No, I wasn’t asking,” he said, and she immediately started sputtering, disgusted at the presumption, “Now, _hold on_! I wasn’t finished. I wasn’t asking, because you deserve better, you deserve a good man. So, I can’t ask you until I’ve managed to do that, become that. For you, and for me. I want to prove myself. I want to feel worthy of you, Rey, both of you,” He said, holding her tightly, as if doing so could fix all his broken pieces back together.


End file.
